


The Gringotts Job

by TheWomanInGreen



Series: The Lions Living in the Wiry Broke Down Frames of My Friends Bodies [2]
Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Asexual Regulus Black, Gen, Gringotts Wizarding Bank, Heist, Horcrux Hunting, Minor Character Death, Regulus Black Lives, Regulus Black-centric
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-06-27
Updated: 2020-07-13
Packaged: 2021-03-03 21:49:04
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 3
Words: 11,916
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24952585
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TheWomanInGreen/pseuds/TheWomanInGreen
Summary: After escaping from Voldemort, Regulus is determined to hunt down the other horcruxes with the help of Sirius, Marlene, James and Lily. But things are less than simple as Regulus grapples with his own guilt, rekindling a relationship with his brother and working out how they're meant to break into the most secure building in Britain.A sequel to 'I Will Not Be Brave' but can be read as a standalone if you just want to read a heist fic of Regulus and the gang breaking into Gringotts.
Relationships: James Potter/Lily Evans Potter, Regulus Black & James Potter, Regulus Black & Lily Evans Potter, Regulus Black & Sirius Black
Series: The Lions Living in the Wiry Broke Down Frames of My Friends Bodies [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1771654
Comments: 44
Kudos: 226





	1. Bad Dreams in the Night

**Author's Note:**

> So this is the second part of my weird nebulous investigation of what would happen if Regulus survived The Cave. If you haven't read the first part you can probably read this, all you need to know is that Regulus, James and Marlene were rescued from Death Eaters and Regulus was injured by Voldemort, who wanted his soul back. Regulus knows there's more than one horcrux and the gang is eager to hunt them down. 
> 
> This chapter features a shameful amount of exposition and for that I'm sorry, I tried to thread it in as much as I could.

Recovery was not a pastime that Regulus enjoyed. He didn’t think he’d spent so much time in bed in his life and people were far too kind and understanding. It felt unearned and hollow, like the kind of half-hearted praise you give an owl when it brings back a dead mouse. He felt like a constant trespasser, an imposition in their lives. He couldn’t decide what was worse the way he felt or the fact that he knew if he mentioned it, they’d all feel bad.

Lily was right about his arm and leg; they were not going to be healed by anything other than a slow recovery. Whatever kind of dark magic the Dark Lord had fired at him wasn’t something one would find in a first-year charms textbook.

The one person he felt truly comfortable around was, weirdly enough, Marlene. They had no dark history or difficult past, they hadn’t known each other before meeting at the Lestrange cellar and spending a week together had forged the kind of bond which would only have been made awkward through shared memories, not second hand accounts.

“Damn, that’s gonna be hard to explain next time you’re in bed with someone,” Marlene had walked in on Regulus staring at himself in the mirror. He was stripped to the waist and slowly tracing the raised pink lines which littered his body.

Most were gifts bestowed on him by the inferi, though a few came from his cousin. Most notably the mess made out of both of his arms. The vague mass of scar tissue situated where his dark mark had once been, sliced off with a nasty curse, dominated his left arm. His other arm still proudly carried the word ‘TRAITOR’ etched into his skin in such a way as would be hard for anyone to ignore.

“You don’t think ‘fell down the stairs’ will suffice?” he raised an eyebrow at her.

She laughed and gave him a hand into a dressing gown, a bright red fluffy monstrosity he normally wouldn’t be caught dead in.

“At least your pretty face is mostly intact,” Marlene smiled, passing him his crutches. She was right, his desperation to keep his face above water had had the secondary effect of leaving it clear from most of the assaults of the inferi; all that marred his skin was a single line which went from his forehead to the edge of his jaw, bisecting his left eyebrow but fortunately missing his eye.

“Whatever would I do without it?” Regulus laughed, “it shall be hard enough finding a suitable pureblood marriage what with the vigilantism. I don’t think I could handle anything else.”

Marlene smiled at him and the two of them made their way to the sitting room where Lily, James and Sirius were gathered in some show of normality. It had been a month since the escape, yet still Regulus was unused to sharing such a small space with a group of people. It was overwhelming. It reminded him of the Slytherin dormitories, except here people wanted to know why if you were being quiet.

Regulus gave the assembled group a wan smile as he slumped into the nearest chair. His leg was improving and at least his arm was healed enough that he could use his crutches. Being in a wheelchair had been unbearable.

“Reggie,” Sirius gave him a grin, Sirius was always happy to see him, it was disconcerting, Regulus had expected his brother to have grown bored of his presence by now. “What have you been up to?”

“Oh, you know,” Regulus sighed, it was a familiar joke at this point, “a spot of ballet practice, followed by a game of muggle football, thought I might go to a ball this evening. Marlene here thinks my face might still allow me to mix with high society.”

Sirius laughed despite the consistency of his answers to the days’ previous, “Reggie, your face was bad enough to begin with. Lead with something you can use, tell them you’re my brother.”

Regulus rolled his eyes.

The living room was a mess of books and papers, Regulus had accepted his injured state only as long as he could continue his research. He had to find the other horcruxes and had to discover how to destroy them. It was a minor miracle that Dumbledore had even let them keep hold of the locket, especially with how he’d stared at it in open fascination.

In the end it was Lily who’d won him over, Regulus didn’t know what she’d said to him but whatever it had been, had led to Dumbledore reluctantly leaving empty handed. Regardless of Lily’s words, every time he came back to the flat, he stared at the locket longer and Regulus knew if they didn’t make a break through soon, it wouldn’t matter what was said.

Regulus didn’t trust the old wizard. He knew James, Marlene, and possibly even Sirius would likely have handed the locket over were it not for his and Lily’s objection. He didn’t trust any educator that lumped together a quarter of his students into a house full of prejudice and then just watched as many of them succumbed to those ideals.

Regulus didn’t blame Dumbledore for his own mistakes, but the thought of his housemates, once so innocent, made him shiver. He could see Barty in his mind’s eye, cackling with laughter as Regulus writhed under the force of his cousin’s cruciatus curse.

“Any progress?” he asked, not really expecting a response.

“In the horcrux hunt? No not really, but we did put together a sweet mix tape for you,” James grinned and handed Regulus a cassette tape.

Regulus had been slowly learning more about muggle culture which was exciting because what he’d learned about muggle culture previously had mostly been getting annoyed with Sirius for blasting muggle music from his room. Regulus was delighted to learn not all muggle music sounded like scraping metal with a sharp object after he’d met Lily late one night; he was awake from nightmare and she was struggling with pregnancy hormones.

Regulus hesitated before taking the offered tape, “No T. Rex?” he checked.

“None but I want it known that you have terrible taste,” Sirius grouched, but his words were undercut by giving his younger brother’s arm a friendly squeeze.

Regulus tucked the tape into the pocket of his ridiculous dressing gown before picking up his rune research. The others humoured him in his seemingly single-minded research into runes, while they had branched out into potions, poisons, spells and even history, to try and find a way to track and destroy horcruxes. Sirius’ view was that runes had been useful once already and lightening did not strike twice with a subject he described as ‘the intellectual equivalent of a circle jerk’.

“This whole thing would be easier if we could get other people involved,” murmured Marlene. It was an old argument, part of Dumbledore’s condition for them keeping the locket was that the information surrounding it never left the group. Privately, it was the one thing Regulus actually agreed with Dumbledore about, but he knew it upset the others. Sirius, especially struggled with hiding it from Lupin and Pettigrew.

It also meant that a cover story had had to be crafted for Regulus’ rescue. According to the story Dumbledore had put about, Regulus had joined the Death Eaters in order to spy and pass on information. Once he was caught, he’d had to be extracted. It was more generous than Regulus felt he deserved.

Regulus continued to scribble down notes, moving on to drawing out potential runes. The difficulty in working with a magic hidden from most of the wizarding world was that there were very few people who had written much about it. It was only more difficult when the magic in question couldn’t be recreated. Well, not without some serious moral flexibility on the part of everyone involved.

Regulus sighed, he’d been toying with a rune for days now, trying out difference styles but always coming back to the same basic structure.

The trouble with tracking magic, as the group were well aware, was that it relied heavily on blood, so all the tracking runes that were written used blood as an anchor to find other people. Regulus needed to add an element to the rune to leave the blood element out of the tracking. If it was left in, the search for Voldemort’s soul would lead straight to Voldemort himself without circling back to any fragments along the way. After all, Voldemort himself, despite efforts to the contrary, would always be the most Voldemort thing in existence.

He’d carefully copied out the tracking rune and added an extra flair that would remove any blood elements. Regulus couldn’t find any runes for ‘soul’, that kind of magic just wasn’t used much, so he had begun crafting his own, trying his best to follow the runic laws. It had been decades since someone had created a new rune, and that one was a basic rune for ‘sink’ created to help with some sort of self-cleaning rune. A ridiculous use of the ancient art if you asked Regulus.

His own ‘soul’ rune was complex but Regulus was growing in confidence in its effectiveness. Unfortunately, with the addition of blood in all the people surrounding him, he had no way of telling if the tracking rune was truly twinning with the soul and not just the living body it inhabited.

“I have an idea,” Regulus sighed, “but I can’t test it out, I’d have to go straight to drawing it on the locket.”

The four others looked up at him, “What’s the plan?” asked Marlene.

Regulus explained and showed them the drawing of the rune, showing them all the components and how they fit together.

“What happens if it doesn’t work?” asked Sirius.

“Probably nothing. But I can’t guarantee that the tracking element might not backfire,” Regulus sighed and ran a hand through his hair.

“So, you-know-who could find us?” Lily asked, her hand sliding to her stomach.

Regulus nodded.

“Perhaps another venue for this would be better,” said James, frowning and looking over at Lily.

“We could try Hogwarts,” said Sirius, “you-know-who would expect weird vibes from where Dumbledore can most commonly be found.”

“I’m not taking a horcrux to a school,” Regulus wrinkled his nose, “besides what we really need is a way to test if anyone comes, if we expect nobody to show up even if there is a tracking backfire, then we might not realise until much later on.”

“Ok fine, it needs to be somewhere where they might be able to attack, but I’ll take it, you are staying here,” Sirius stared at his brother, his eyes hard. Regulus knew Sirius still hadn’t forgiven himself for what had happened to Regulus.

“Don’t be ridiculous, none of you took ancient runes, and this is a rune of my creation. I’m the best equipped to apply it. I won’t object to some back up, though, especially as this bloody wand is not responding to me at all,” Regulus sighed at that last point, glaring at his wand.

“I’m sorry, Regulus, I got you the exact same one,” said Marlene, “Hawthorn with veela hair.”

“It’s not your fault,” Regulus sighed, he hadn’t been without a reliable wand since he was eleven and was struggling without one. He couldn’t help but feel unsafe, no matter how much he knew the others around his were there to protect him. “To be honest, even my old wand wasn’t working amazingly in those last few weeks, clearly I’ve changed too much.”

“Well I, for one, love the new you,” Sirius grinned. “I’ll be coming with you when you apply that rune.”

“We could make a double play of it,” said James, “once we’ve tested the rune, we can head to Diagon Alley, throw anyone following off the scent and get you a new wand.”

“Not sure that’s a brilliant idea. No offence Reg, but you still look like you’ve lost a fight with a Hippogriff. Not to mention the whole, being the top of the Dark Lord’s hit list thing.”

“I need a wand, Siri. I can’t even cast a decent Protego with this.”

“We can take the cloak,” said James, unwilling to be open about going against his best friend but knowing Regulus was right. Without a wand he was an easy target.

“I’ll go too,” said Marlene, “I’m desperate to get out of this flat for a bit. You’re all great, but I’m sick of the sight of you.” She paused and saw everyone looking at her with dubious expressions, “and sure, obviously I’d rather Regulus not die horribly. I thought it went without saying.”

“Right it’s settled, you three,” Lily gestured to Marlene, Sirius and Regulus, “head out tomorrow, test the rune and get Regulus a new wand. Don’t be gone too long, I’m a patient lady, but James will drive me up the wall if he has to wait longer than a couple hours,” said Lily, glaring at her fiance and daring him to contradict her.

“I can work with that,” Regulus grinned. Despite the danger, it felt good to finally have some kind of plan in place.

* * *

_Worthless_

_Not worth the name of Black_

_How could you Regulus?_

_Only a fool would make only one_

Regulus awoke with a gasp and turned over on the bed. He cast a quick tempus with his wand, the spell only just working despite its simplicity. It was one in the morning. Knowing that attempting to get back to sleep was futile, Regulus crept to the living room and situated himself on the sofa.

He stared out of the window, the light of the street lamps leaking into the night sky, leaving the stars dim in the distance. The nightmares were relentless and Regulus couldn’t keep relying on Dreamless Sleep every time he went to bed.

He stared out at the books and papers which littered the living room table, unwilling to pick any up despite his usual desire to use any and every spare moment to further the hunt. He still hadn’t found a way to destroy the horcrux he’d nearly died retrieving.

With a sigh, Regulus took a small rectangular device off from the side table and slotted in the latest tape the others had made for him.

Muggle music had become his go-to ever since he’d started having nightmares. At first Lily had introduced him only to old music, made with instruments and orchestras, but now it seemed she had deemed him worthy of being moved on to more contemporary music. Regulus didn’t care so long as he wasn’t subjected to the toneless noise Sirius seemed to be forever listening to. In the honesty of his own head, Regulus could also admit that there was little he would have denied Lily. He saw the shame of his old beliefs echoed back in her intelligence, grace and ability; a deep sense of guilt cried out for approval from this muggleborn witch.

The sound of a strange muggle voice permeated the room, singing about some wild hills somewhere, about a seemingly toxic relationship and, for a reason Regulus couldn’t fathom, a demand to be let in through a window.

“Ah, Wuthering Heights,” Regulus jumped, but soon relaxed again as Lily entered the room. “Kate Bush is an icon. What do you think?”

She smiled as she sat next to him on the sofa, pausing the tape before it could move past the opening notes to the next song.

“I’m confused,” Regulus mumbled, “why does she go by both Kate and Cathy?”

Lily giggled but it wasn’t an unkind sound, she stood up and went over to a bookcase, grabbing hold of a well-worn novel and bringing it back to the sofa. “She’s singing from the point of view of the heroine of this book. It’s a muggle classic, about doomed love between two terrible people. It’s a little bleak but you might enjoy it. The characters are not nice, but you do care for them, you want things to work out.”

“So they’re sympathetic, even though they’re terrible people?”

“They are. I like the way it shows how even the most awful people can be loved, that their love becomes their redeeming quality. I like to think it’s love that makes all the difference, even in this war. James thinks I’m naïve, but I don’t think there’s anything that can save a person like the love of another.”

Regulus frowned at the cover of the book. “I don’t think I’ve ever been in love,” he murmured. “I’m not sure I can. I mean,” he paused, unsure how to proceed, his own honesty taking him by surprise, “I love Sirius, he’s my brother. But I’ve never loved anyone the way you and James do.”

“That’s ok, Regulus,” Lily gave his hand a squeeze. “Have you ever told anyone else?”

“I mentioned it to my cousin once, to Bellatrix. Or, well, I mean, she used legilimency, it was a year or so ago. She said it was good I couldn’t love, said it made me a better servant to the Dark Lord.”

“Oh Regulus,” Lily pulled him to her side, “hasn’t anyone told you there are loads of ways to love, loads of ways to be loved. I love James, he means the world to me, but so does Marlene. I don’t love them the same way, but I love them both the same.”

Regulus didn’t respond, keeping his eyes fixed on the book in front of him.

“Come on,” Lily stood up again, “let’s watch another film. I’m determined to make a muggle film critic out of you yet. This one’s a classic.” She held a tape aloft like Regulus might hold the snitch after a successful quidditch match, carrying it over to the machine under the screen.

The title credits started rolling as Lily walked back to the sofa, grabbing a blanket and wrapping it around the two of them as a red car drove around a hilltop on the screen. Apparently, the film was called The Italian Job, though the characters still seemed to be speaking English. 

Regulus relaxed against the sofa cushions and let the drama onscreen chase away the nightmares from his head, leaning into the warm presence of Lily next to him.

* * *

The next day the group decided to put their plan into action. Sirius, Regulus and Marlene gathered together everything they’d need for the trip, including the invisibility cloak.

“Be safe and don’t take too long, otherwise it will be James that will be in real danger as I will not put up with him climbing the walls for long,” said Lily, drawing Marlene into a hug, then Regulus.

“What am I, chopped liver?” asked Sirius. Lily rolled her eyes but the two also shared a tight hug.

Marlene reached over to grab Regulus with one arm and Sirius with the other, the former clinging on to his crutches, not wanting to lose them while apparating.

“See you on the other side,” Marlene gave a grin before the three of them vanished from sight.

They landed in a secluded area, not far from the hustle and bustle of Diagon Alley, but free from the crowds. It was an old industrial estate, a factory that used to make muggle carriages but had since closed down.

Regulus sighed and shook off the lingering nausea from apparition, slumping against a wall as he did so.

“You ok, Reggie?” asked Sirius, coming to his side in an instant.

“Fine, fine, just need my hands free.”

Marlene grabbed an old rubbish bin and transfigured it into a chair, passing it over so that Regulus could sit down.

“So, how exactly does this work?” asked Marlene, “will there be arrows or a map appearing?”

“It’s an adaptation of the blood magic me and Sirius did before. Once I’ve drawn the rune, anyone who grabs hold of the locket will be able to envisage the horcrux that’s closest. It’ll be using the object’s own magic so it probably won’t even take that much effort.”

Regulus took out his faulty wand and carefully drew out the rune from memory, fortunate that drawing with wands is the sort of basic magic which requires very little harnessing of magic. He carefully attached the rune to the locket, pleased when the rune embedded itself in the metal rather than glance off the surface. He’d managed to attach the rune to the soul inside.

Regulus took the locket in his hand and concentrated, focusing on the power of the inscription and trying to block out the darkness that the piece of Voldemort’s soul emitted.

Initially all he saw was darkness. He concentrated hard, trying to avoid distraction, and peered into the black nothingness like a man searching for an object in a darkened room. It took a while before the darkness began to clear and a shape emerged.

There it was. A golden cup, the cup of Helga Hufflepuff. He should have guessed that the use of the locket was not a one-off but a commitment to objects of value and esteem. He allowed the image to retreat, focusing on its surroundings, working out where the cup was hidden. It was nearby, not far from where they were. Perhaps the retrieval would not be as hard as he’d feared, maybe they could even go today- 

“Fuck.”

“Did it not work?” Sirius asked, meeting his brother’s eyes as Regulus looked up from the locket.

“Do we need to worry about company?” asked Marlene, drawing her wand.

“It worked.”

“But that’s good right?” said Marlene.

“In a manner of speaking,” said Regulus, resisting the urge to bang his head against a wall and rubbed his eyes instead.

“Is it far? I’m sure Dumbledore will be able to help us travel if it’s far, it would make sense for the slithery bastard to hide them abroad,” said Sirius.

“It’s not far.”

“What’s the issue? The plan worked; we’re close by,” said Marlene, frowning at Regulus.

“It’s at Gringotts.”

“Ah,” said Marlene.

“Fuck,” said Sirius.

“Well, that’s going to be fun,” sighed Marlene, slumping against the wall.

“I suggest,” said Sirius, after a moment of reflection, “that we delegate this as a problem for future us and get Reggie’s wand.”

Regulus nodded before getting to his feet, leaning on his crutches as he did so. He couldn’t wait until his leg was finally healed; Lily assured him it would only be a couple more weeks.

* * *

The three trooped out of Olivander’s with Regulus clutching tightly to his new wand: Cypress wood with dragon heartstring, it was nothing like his old one. Sirius had insisted on his wearing the invisibility cloak, removing it only when they were in the wand shop itself.

Outside the cold December air was biting and the wizards and witches they came across were wrapped up tight in their cloaks, but it remained only the weather which gave away the time of year. Unlike before when Regulus had come through the street in December, there were no Christmas decorations or sweet treats being sold from carts; nobody was singing carols or bringing children through the boulevard. The cold whether was bleak and stark with no festive cheer to undercut it.

As the three of them passed Gringotts, Regulus stared in hopeless fascination. How were they ever meant to break in to the most secure place in Britain?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> For anyone who's interested: Regulus' previous wand was basically attached to his conflict. Hawthorn is attached to conflicted nature (it's also Draco Malfoy's wand), and veela hair is temperamental. His new wand is very different, Cypress wood is usually attached to people with a self-sacrificing nature and/or willing to die a heroic death, dragon heartstring is fairly standard but allows for the wand to be quite powerful. 
> 
> I hope you enjoyed the first chapter, I'm hoping to delve a little more into the characters later on. I feel like, especially with Sirius and Regulus, there is a lot of tip-toeing around each other.


	2. A Death in the Family

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Sirius and Regulus struggle with how to handle some difficult news. Marlene fixes everything. 
> 
> TW: very minor canonical character death (you can probably guess who)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> First off, thank you so much for all the comments on the first chapter, it made my day to see that a lot of you that enjoyed IWNBB stuck around for the sequel. Much love to you all. 
> 
> This chapter is very dialogue and emotion heavy which was hard for me when i usually just use memes to communicate my emotions. What you see before you is actually version 3 of this chapter with the first two just not what I thought the characters were ready for. Anyway, I hope you enjoy and it all reads ok, I'm trying to work on character voice.

They’d only been gone a couple of hours but James was pacing when they apparated into the sitting room, Regulus throwing off the invisibility cloak as they appeared. He immediately went to sit down on the sofa, his bad leg aching from the exertion. 

“You’re back! Did it work?” James grinned and immediately went to Sirius’ side eager to be reunited with his best friend. Honestly, some days Regulus wondered how Lily and Remus Lupin coped with their significant others so wrapped up in each other.

“Well the good news is we know where one of the other horcruxes is,” said Sirius to James’ delighted grin.

“The bad news is, it’s in fucking Gringotts because fuck us I guess,” called Marlene, heading over to slump on the sofa next to Regulus, dramatically throwing her head into his lap.

If the situation had been less dire, Regulus might have found something funny about the way James’ face comically lost all its expression.

Lily came in, lifting Marlene’s legs before sitting under them, “Not ideal.”

“Maybe Dumbledore can intervene,” said James, “get the goblins to give up just the horcrux.”

Regulus shook his head, “there’s no way they’ll do it, not even for Dumbledore. Gringotts prides itself on not taking part in the affairs of wizards, there’s no way they’d break that. Plus, it’s in the Lestrange vault, not just any random draw. We’d be asking them to violate the trust of one of the most powerful and wealthy wizarding families.”

“We’re heirs of even more wealthy and powerful wizarding families,” said James, gesturing to himself and Regulus, “surely that would count for something.”

“First of all, I’m not the heir, Sirius is. Secondly, they would destroy their reputation; no matter how much wealth our two families have it would not be worth their impartiality built up over hundreds of years.”

“So, what do we do?” said Lily.

“It’s it obvious? We steal it,” Sirius couldn’t help but beam at the prospect.

“I’m not even going to entertain that suggestion with a response,” said Lily, “I’m going to ask Dumbledore round at his earliest convenience. We have allies, lets use them. There has to be a better way to go about this.”

Privately, Regulus didn’t think there was anything to be done by official channels, but he remained silent.

Marlene nodded, “that sounds like a good idea, I’ll send a patronus.”

Once Marlene got up, removing her head from his lap, Regulus dragged himself off the sofa and headed in the direction of his room. Despite the time which had passed since his injuries, he still tired easily, and being around people so much of the time was an extra drain on his energy.

* * *

It was a few days later, while Marlene, James and Lily were in heated discussion with Dumbledore, that the letter arrived. It was addressed to Sirius, written with the official logo of the Black family lawyer, the stark white envelope containing pages of concise, unsentimental, words written on plush thick card.

Walburga Black, matriarch of the Noble and Most Ancient House of Black, was dead.

“Everything ok, Pads?” asked James, noticing his friend’s pale face from across the room.

“I need to talk to Reggie,” said Sirius, standing with robotic movements, his eyes not seeming to focus on any object or person in the room.

“What’s happened?” asked Lily, going to stand but her hand being taken gently by James.

“I need to talk to Reggie,” Sirius repeated, leaving the room.

Regulus was practising spells with his new wand when Sirius entered.

“Hey, Sirius,” Regulus murmured without looking up, “I take it no dice on the Dumbledore solving the problem route? I’m beginning to think you might be right, you know about…” he trailed off when he saw the expression on his brother’s face.

Sirius perched on the end of Regulus’ bed; his hands tight in his lap. He wordlessly handed over the letter. He watched as Regulus’ eyes moved across the page, the expression draining from his face as he read.

As the letter slipped from Regulus’ fingers the two sat in a strange silence, almost like a vigil; the kind of silence one only ever encounters when there is both too much to say and nothing to add.

Regulus was all too aware of the room around him: the bed underneath him with it’s too soft mattress; the familiar feeling of wand wood under his fingers, only slightly changed with the change in type; the oppressive red of the curtains, bedding and carpet, reminding him how much he’d betrayed everything his mother had held dear.

“So that’s that,” Regulus finally whispered, after a few minutes had passed

“I guess.”

“She’s really gone. You know, I took it for granted that she’d always exist, the same way that the weather always exists, or gravity,” Regulus stared at the ceiling.

“Good riddance I guess,” said Sirius, trying for levity but hopelessly missing.

“Don’t say that,” said Regulus, surprising both of them at the force in his voice.

“Why not? It’s true. She was rotten when alive and now it seems her body has finally caught up with her.”

“I said no,” Regulus’ eyes were red, his emotions waring just under the surface.

Sirius scoffed, “Of course, even now you’d still care. You think she cared when you were held by Voldemort, you think she cared when you were being tortured? Stop defending her. She was awful to us. I thought you were past all this nonscience.”

“She’s dead, there’s nothing worth fighting about anymore.”

Sirius stood up, a new energy taking over his movements, “There’s plenty! She never got to see what happened to you, you never got to show her the person you became. Don’t you care? That old hag went to her grave thinking she still had a hold over you. That rotten old bitch who called herself our mother was nothing but manipulation in a stiff collar, I’m allowed to be angry. I don’t understand why you still care what is said about her, not like she didn’t say worse about our friends, about me.”

“There’s nothing angry or happy about death, it’s just sad,” said Regulus, reigning in his emotions.

Sirius sneered, “don’t give me that crap. Same old Regulus, all this drama and still the same soft mother’s boy on the inside. She knew what she was doing, look at that, making you care, getting her victory from the grave.”

Regulus shook his head, “there’s no victory in death, there’s just loss.”

“Loss? What loss? What have we lost? Nights too scared to make a sound so as not to get hexed in our beds, is that what we lost? Did we lose a mother who’d rather we hated each other than agreed on something she didn’t like? Did we lose a woman so filled with hatred she’d use unforgivables on her own children, just to keep up appearances? Would you rather we still had a mother who forced us apart, who would rather you be a Death Eater than my brother? Is that what you want? Is that what you perceive as loss?”

“Our mother is dead.”

“Our captor is dead. Our mother died a long time ago, if she ever was alive to begin with.”

“This is worse, she’s never coming back. Don’t you see, she’s gone forever.”

“Good! What do we need her for, we have each other, it’s better this way,” Sirius grabbed Regulus’ hands, “it’s just us now, we get to make our own choices. Or am I not enough for you, is that it? What more could you want?”

“I don’t know,” murmured Regulus, looking down at their clasped hands.

“What do you mean you don’t know? We’re all doing everything we can right now to stop some murderous bastard and you’re here moping because one of the people who supported him copped it. You better make damn sure you know which side you’re on Reggie, I’m not rescuing you again.” Sirius dropped his brother’s hands and glared down at him.

“I didn’t ask you to rescue me.”

“Oh yeah, so what you were just going to leave one of the most powerful dark objects ever encountered for Kreacher to destroy. Kreacher!” Sirius threw his hands up, “a fucking house elf! But, hey, rather a house elf than your brother, at least Kreacher was never going to make you think for yourself. You’d rather Voldemort win than have to face up to your own failures, you’d rather turn away and pretend nothing’s happening, just like you did when we were kids. Tell me, is it as easy to ignore muggleborns being killed as it was to ignore my screams?”

Regulus looked up in wide-eyed horror, “Sirius, stop. It wasn’t like that.”

“And there you go from spineless kid to gutless adult. Still wanting so desperately for dear old mummy to give a fuck. Wake up, Regulus, she never cared about you, she could have lived another fifty years and she still wouldn’t have grown a sudden fond affection for her Death Eater child, her heir. The sooner you separate yourself from her and her toxic views the better, I’m sick of pretending that your suck up tendencies don’t make me want to hit you.”

“What do you think I’m doing here?”

“I don’t know, right now you’re getting sappy over someone who’d love to see most of the people in this house dead.”

“I didn’t ask for this, I didn’t want any of this.”

“Then leave. You know where the door is,” Sirius stood, clearing a possible exit way and stared at his brother expectantly. There was a long pregnant pause. “Just as I thought, still a coward, just as much a parasite; you’ve just found a new host to attach yourself to until something better comes along.”

“Leave? You want me to leave?” Regulus said, raising his voice, “why would I leave when that’s so clearly your specialty?”

Sirius simply fixed Regulus with a glare in response, slamming the door on his way out of the room.

Regulus waited until Sirius was gone before he allowed himself to cry. He cried because his mother was dead, because he hadn’t seen her in months, because she’d died alone. He cried because he still cared, despite it all, he still cared so much it hurt. He cried because he didn’t know how to stand up to the enormity of his own mistakes, how to make it right when he’d made it all so horribly wrong.

* * *

Downstairs at the table Lily, James and Marlene sat quietly drinking tea, pretending they couldn’t hear the row going on from the bedroom. As soon as the door slammed, they sprang into action.

“I’ll take Regulus,” Marlene said, heading towards the younger Black’s room.

“I’ll take Sirius,” James said.

“I’ll make sure Dumbledore hasn’t lost the last shred of faith he had in us to complete this ridiculous mission,” said Lily, rolling her eyes.

Despite her purposeful walk to the door Marlene paused outside it as she heard Regulus’ muffled sobs. She knew he probably wouldn’t want her to be there to see it, she’d never really seen him cry, even when he was clearly in so much pain in that God-forsaken dungeon.

She sat herself down on the floor just next to the bedroom door and waited for the crying to abate.

When it had been a few minutes since she’d last heard any hitching breaths, Marlene decided it was safe enough to creep inside.

“So,” she said, ignoring Regulus’ red rimmed eyes and messy hair, “it seems we may have to stage a break-in after all.”

“My mother is dead,” was all Regulus said in response, “and now Sirius hates me.”

Marlene didn’t say anything, she walked over to the bed and settled herself next to her friend.

“I don’t even know why I’m so sad about it. It’s not like she was ever good to us.”

“Look,” said Marlene, “I’m no expert, but I’m pretty sure it’s ok to be sad when your mother dies, no matter how messed up she was. I think Sirius knows that too, he’s just upset.”

“He was right though. I am a coward and weak.” Regulus stared ahead, his eyes unseeing, “I shouldn’t even be here.”

“I don’t see many cowards standing up to Voldemort, only good people, people with honour and integrity.”

Regulus rolled his eyes, “not like I had much choice.”

Marlene shook her head, “you’ve had plenty of choices, you rebuke yourselves for the wrong ones you made all the time, maybe you should start at least giving yourself credit for the right ones. Reg, nobody has done more for the cause than you.”

“Because nobody else was close enough to the darkness. No, don’t contradict, I know my failings better than anyone, I see myself clearly. I guess in some ways, it’s good I was seduced, fool that I was, so fucking pathetic. Look at me, mourning a woman I have every reason to hate.” Regulus sighed, his eyes were wet with tears he was refusing to shed, “At least, we got something out of it.”

Marlene took Regulus by the shoulders and sat him up, forcing Regulus to meet her eyes, “is that how you see yourself? Some sort of blunt instrument? You’re not an object to be picked up and tossed away, you’re my friend.”

“I am at the moment.”

“What’s that supposed to mean?”

“It means, Marlene, that nothing in my life is permanent. Sirius said it himself, once I betrayed the Voldemort, I was nobody’s: nobody’s friend, nobody’s ally, nobody’s brother. Now, I’m not even anyone’s son. I have nothing that won’t disappear the moment I fuck up. And, I don’t know if you’ve noticed, but I’m pretty good at fucking things up.”

“You’re doing your best to fix things; we can all see that. And we’re all here to help, we all have the same goals. You might have fucked up in the past, but now, with us, we have a real shot at making a big difference.”

“Life’s not like a muggle movie,” said Regulus, “I used to think I could fix everything with one good deed, now I see how misguided I was. You can’t fix it just with one thing. How can I possibly be more than my mistakes when they are so numerous? I feel like I’m drowning again, surrounded by people I don’t deserve.”

“Reg, it’s called a second chance for a reason, just cus you blew the first one doesn’t mean you can’t keep going. Nobody wants to see you consumed by guilt like this: not me, and definitely not Sirius not matter what he says when he’s upset.”

“But I don’t deserve it. Surely you must see there are better people more worth your time and care?”

“I hate that word, ‘deserve’,” said Marlene, giving up any pretence of distance or boundaries, and practically pulling Regulus into her lap. “Once you start dealing in ‘deserve’ then what does it matter who suffers if they were never good to begin with. There are people in this world who are so good and yet can barely eat, where is ‘deserve’ there? There are people in this world who have everything and will never share it, ‘deserve’ is not there either. I don’t know if you deserve a second chance, Reg, because I don’t know if I deserve a second chance for all the times I’ve fucked up. I don’t know why you were saddled with your parents, why you had a mother who never loved you, why I got such a wonderful group of friends while you were alone, I don’t know why Lily got so much magical talent.” She paused, giving him a teasing grin, “or even why that god-awful Pina Colada song seems to be on the cusp of topping the charts when it’s clear there are more deserving artists.”

“I like the Pina Colada song,” Regulus pouted.

“I know you do, we’ll work on it,” Marlene ruffled his hair, “that’s not my point. My point is, I don’t know what you deserve or what I deserve. But I do know that we need you and I think you need us too and, though he might not admit it, Sirius needs you more than anyone. And even with all that aside, I’m damn sure the wizarding world needs you, I mean, fuck Reg, where the hell would we be without you? You’re incredible.”

Regulus rolled his eyes.

“I’m serious. Let’s not talk about ‘deserve’, the whole thing is bullshit anyway. It’s just you now: no parents and no expectations, and we need you. Let’s figure this stuff out and leave the guilt complexes at the door for once. I think we’ve freaked out Dumbledore enough will all this angst.”

Regulus sighed and finally allowed himself to lean into his friend, it felt so good to be held.

“You’re way too smart, how did you end up with all these foolhardy Gryffindors? Surely Ravenclaw would have better suited?” Regulus asked, giving Marlene a weak smile.

“I was supposed to be actually,” Marlene admitted, sheepishly avoiding eye contact.

“What do you mean?”

“The hat, it wanted to put me in Ravenclaw, but the only friend I’d made on the train was Lily and I just didn’t want to be friendless; I really struggled at my primary school.”

Regulus let out a laugh that came out a slightly hysterical, “Merlin, if only we’d listened to that stupid old hat. It wanted to put me in Ravenclaw too but, well, you know.”

“I do,” she said, taking his hand.

“It wasn’t just cowardice,” he said after a pause, “I need you to know that.”

“Regulus,” Marlene sighed, “not wanting to be isolated from all you’ve known isn’t cowardice.”

“It wasn’t just about me. Sirius was so careful about taking the fall, I’d only ever seen my failings lead back to him. As long as I’d been alive, he’d covered for me. I just,” Regulus bowed his head, “I just didn’t want to see him keep getting hurt. Not for me. It just seemed easier to take the path of least resistance.”

“You were forced into choices nobody should have to make,” said Marlene.

“I didn’t even notice when choice became habit, when pleasing my parents became such a huge part of my identity I lost where I was in it all. I was no longer a separate entity from what my parents saw me as; I became what I’d wished to only be as a disguise.” 

Silence reigned between the two of them, the only sounds were muffled voices from downstairs. Clearly, Regulus mused, Marlene had pulled the short straw to end up on Regulus duty while the other two were assigned to his brother. But how he loved her for it.

“Do you think,” Regulus began tentatively, “do you think we would have been friends? If we were both in Ravenclaw, I mean.”

“Reg,” Marlene grinned, “we would have been the best.”

* * *

The atmosphere the next day in the living room was tense, Sirius was refusing to make eye contact with him and the others were all steadfast in refusing to address the elephant in the room. Regulus didn’t often miss Grimmauld Place, the house had never brought him joy, but right at that moment he missed its winding staircases and large array of hidden spaces. Anything to get out of this stony silence.

“So, are we gonna nick this horcrux or what?” Marlene broke the stalemate with a self-satisfied smile at the slightly bewildered expressions on everyone else’s faces.

“I’m not sure that’s going to be particularly possible,” said Lily, holding up a book declaring itself to be the definitive guide to the history and practices of Gringotts Wizarding Bank. “Nobody has ever managed to break into Gringotts in the Bank’s entire six-hundred-year history, not even when one of the outside walls caved in from a magical explosion from one of the objects inside. It’s insanely well guarded and has pretty much every kind of protection known to wizarding kind.”

“There has to be some way in, something that would work,” said James, frowning a little at his own book, which claimed to contain every kind of disguise magic.

“I don’t get why you think the answer to this will be in a book,” snapped Sirius, his bad mood clearly extending beyond the remit of Regulus.

“Of course you would say that,” Regulus muttered.

“What was that?” said Sirius, rounding on his younger brother.

“Maybe Sirius has a point,” interrupted Marlene, refusing to allow anymore time to be lost to sibling drama. She ignored the slightly hurt look on Regulus’ face as she continued, “if nobody’s ever succeeded in breaking in then the solution is not going to lie in books written by other people. If we want this horcrux, we’re gonna need to think for ourselves.”

“What do you suggest?” asked Regulus.

Marlene took a breath, steeling herself for what she might provoke. “I think you and Sirius should head to Gringotts, you’ve had a death in the family, just say you want to check out the vault, it’ll look perfectly legitimate. While you’re there we can put on lots of different types of magic on you and see what gets through.”

Sirius gave an overdramatic sigh and stared at the ceiling beseechingly, as though he had been asked to make some great sacrifice. Regulus kept his face carefully blank.

“What kind of magic are we talking about?” asked James, leaning forward slightly.

“Anything, everything, whatever we can think of,” said Marlene. “Maybe try out small transfigurations on Regulus’ crutches and see if they last, use some disguise magic, even polyjuice potion. Whatever we think we might use in a real break in, we test out here.”

Lily nodded, “that’s brilliant, like a dummy run but for magic.”

Sirius nodded, “about time being a Black was of use for once.”

Regulus glared but ignored his brother’s comment. He sighed when he noticed that they were waiting for his agreement, “let’s figure out what spells we’re going with.”

* * *

In the end, the group of five spent the next few days pouring over books, finding every spell, incantation, potion and otherwise magical creation they might want to use in a break in. By the end of the third day they had a list of things to try out longer than Regulus’ arm, he wondered idly how they were going to fit everything in.

Not everything they wanted to try out would work on Sirius or Regulus given that they had to at least appear to hold some semblance of normality. It was for that reason it was decided that one of the others would have to come with them, hidden under the invisibility cloak, offering the dual purpose of testing out the cloak. Much to James’ consternation, it was once again Marlene who was chosen to go along with the two brothers.

Regulus himself felt thick with magic by the time they’d applied all the spells. They were all subtle, only to be noticed by Regulus, but enough to see what magic would hold past any wards put in place at the bank. The only aspect of his appearance that had truly changed was an irritating fake moustache that Sirius had stuck to his face with a sticking charm.

“I hardly think this is necessary,” Regulus groused, knowing that the effect of any glare would likely be lost, as evidenced by Marlene’s barely concealed giggles, which sounded strange considering she was currently polyjuiced to look like James.

Sirius was not quite so diplomatic in holding back his laughter but once he had calmed down, he held up his wand in mock surrender. “Hey, we all agreed, anything that could be useful and at least I didn’t go for a permanent one.”

“We could have stuck something to my cane,” Regulus sighed, he’d just about been able to give up the crutches much to his pleasure.

“Not as fun,” Sirius shrugged.

Regulus might have been tempted to keep up the bickering but things were only just going back to the strange new-normal he’d had with Sirius after their escape, he didn’t want to ruin it. He just wanted Sirius to feel safe, to feel like he could trust him.

To that end, just before they left, Regulus pulled Sirius to one side, his hands fiddling with a sheet of paper. “Hey Siri,” he spoke quietly, unwilling to be overheard, “look, I know this must be hard for you. You know, having to work with me, I just want you to feel safe.” Regulus handed over the sheet of paper, on it was a rune. “If I put this into my skin, you’ll be able to know where I am, you can keep track of me.”

Sirius frowned, holding the sheet of paper slightly away from himself, “why have you done this?”

“I just want you to feel safe. I know you don’t trust me,” Regulus wrung his hands, suddenly feeling bereft of the piece of paper.

“Who says I don’t trust you?”

Regulus was slightly dumbfounded, “I mean, you said…”

“Reggie, I was pissed at you, not…” he shook his head, leaving the thought unfinished and handing back the piece of paper. “You have enough scars.”

“Sirius,” Regulus began, only to be cut off.

“Cypress wood,” Sirius said as though that was some kind of explanation.

“What?”

“Your wand. It’s made of cypress wood,” Sirius gestured to the holster where Regulus kept his wand. “Moony has the same. It’s how I know you’re different, how I know I can trust you.”

“Sirius, that’s not-”

“Come on,” Sirius grabbed his arm, pulling the two of them towards the front door, “the others are waiting, we’ve got a job to do.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you so much for reading. I promise next chapter we will be breaking in (literally) to more of the plot. I guess I hadn't quite taken into account how many emotions were free flowing into this fic. 
> 
> Please do let me know your thoughts :)


	3. The Black Inheritance

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Sirius, Regulus and Marlene go to the bank. Schemes are hatched. Regulus and Lily desperately cling onto sanity in the face of overwhelming opposition.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry this took a while, my life is a little crazy at the moment, both with like real problems and imaginary anxiety problems. My work has been really busy and I've been trying to sort out plans for next year as I'm moving to a new job and new city soon. So yeah, those are my feeble excuses! Updates might be a little slow for the rest of this month but August is a beautiful haven of free time so that should speed things up. 
> 
> Anyway, enough with my excuses, here's the next chapter which should reveal a lot more about how things are gonna go down. Less angst, more action, yay!

They must have made a slightly odd sight in Diagon Alley: two notoriously estranged brothers, one wearing a noticeably fake moustache and still looking worse for wear, scarred and using a cane; the other seemingly trying to cover his brother from all angles at the same time. Regulus wasn’t quite sure whether people were intimidated or simply vaguely horrified, either way they gave the two brothers, and by extension Marlene, a wide berth.

Gringotts looked just as imposing as usual, the dramatic neo-classical architecture looking out of place in the row of shops. Walburga Black believed it terribly gauche to go to the bank herself and as such, Regulus had only been to Gringotts a couple of times before, both times when she wished to impress upon him the importance of the Black inheritance. The first was when he was a child, the second time was not long after Sirius had left. As though it was mere wealth that had kept him in that house.

Now her worst nightmares were apparently a reality as her eldest blood-traitor son walked proudly into the bank followed by her most beloved protégé.

The goblins were a strange race that had always fascinated Regulus, who had tried to learn gobbledegook during the period that was Sirius’ first year at Hogwarts. He hadn’t got very far before he’d realised that he had no way of learning pronunciation and as such he had only basic understanding and only in the written language, which was delightfully no use in this situation.

As the trio came up to the counter Sirius proudly displayed his wand. For all his scorn of their upbringing, it was impressive how easily Sirius could contort himself into the role of the pureblood heir. “I’m the new heir of the Noble and Most Ancient House of Black. I would like to visit the family vault. My brother, here, will be accompanying me and I would like him to have joint access.”

Regulus frowned; they hadn’t discussed anything to do with the family inheritance.

The goblin at the desk, Blordak, looked over the wand with practised care, “Right this way, Mr Black.” He paused before nodding to Regulus as well, “Mr Black.”

Regulus handed over his wand, pleased that Olivander had been so quick as to make sure the new wand’s registration had gone through so quickly. It would have been unfortunate to be turned away so soon.

The three of them followed Blordak through the main hall of the bank to the door at the end. Regulus admired Sirius’ ability to look completely at ease in every circumstance, he himself felt his stomach in knots despite knowing that they weren’t even committing a crime at the present moment.

They climbed into the cart, with Regulus making a fuss of climbing in with his cane so as to give Marlene time to situate herself.

“So,” Sirius said, leaning back leisurely with his legs spread out in front of him, “what sort of security do you have here? I want to be sure that our inheritance is safe. We have family in France and have been considering re-locating, especially given current circumstances. Seems that now might be a good time to make sure all our effects are safe.”

Blordak gave Sirius a look that bordered on contemptuous, “there has never, in its six-hundred-year history been a break in at Gringotts.”

“I’m aware. But times are hard,” said Sirius.

“Times often are. This bank is a constant, wars come and go, but we pride ourselves on remaining neutral and protected. That is how we have survived this long and how we shall continue,” Blordak spoke with finality and Regulus knew he had no more to say on the subject.

Unfortunately, Sirius while possessing all the confidence, did not have the same tact expected of a pureblood heir. “Yes, well what have you got specifically in place? How can you tell I am who I say I am? We have enemies, as I’m sure you are aware. My brother is the most wanted enemy of the Dark Lord, there are many who would want to get access to our vault.”

Regulus had never really been boasted about before, except by his mother who usually just praised what he himself had little to do with, like his breeding. It was strange to hear Sirius, of all people, talk about him in such admiring tones.

Just then the cart when through what looked like a waterfall, but no water touched any of the passengers.

Regulus felt many things happen at once. His fake moustache fluttered from his face, his cane shrunk very slightly, his finger nails went back to their usual colour and his eye sight went back to normal, whereas before he’d been able to discern temperatures and depths. He was sure there were other changes as well, he felt also dizzy with the sudden wash of magic removed from his person.

Sirius looked dazed; a look Regulus was sure he was mirroring. Blordak glanced over at the two of them with a knowing look, he carefully handed Regulus over the fake moustache which had fallen to the floor of the cart.

“That’s how I know who you are. Any more questions?” the goblin challenged.

Sirius gave a light laugh, “oh he’s been trying to grow a real one for years. I keep telling him he’s fine without it, but you know how we Blacks are about our looks.” He turned to Regulus, “Don’t worry Reg, I’ll put it back when we get home ok? It won’t stick while we’re here, I take it?”

Sirius directed the last part back towards Blordak who shook his head. Regulus manfully resisted the urge to throw his brother out of the cart.

The three of them exited the cart, arriving at a large door in what must have been one of the deepest parts of the bank. The air was thick with humidity, making the atmosphere almost stiffling. The walls were carved into obsidian black rock, with the doors of the vaults sunk into the stone, almost like the very walls were trying to absorb the intrusions.

“I’ve not been here in ages,” Sirius said, dawdling as he examined all the doors, “is this not the one, he said gesturing to a vault marked 713, I’m sure our vault is around here.”

“It’s not that one,” Blordak said, tightly, refusing to give Sirius even an inch.

Despite Sirius’ lackadaisical gait, Regulus was still stuck some ways behind as he struggled with his cane against the floors which were a mix of smooth sides and jagged edges. He had no idea where Marlene was, he assumed with them somewhere.

“I believe our cousin’s vault is around here somewhere as well, do you know our cousin Bellatrix?” asked Sirius, Regulus almost admired his steadfast refusal to take a hint.

“I can’t say I’ve had the honour, but the Lestranges’ vault is further below than here,” said Blordak, clearly growing tired of Sirius’ games and therefore laxer in his responses.

Sirius gave the area another slow look round, catching sight of Regulus’ slow pace and walking back to stand by him. “You should have used the crutches,” he murmured, taking Regulus’ free arm.

“Does that mean my cousin enjoys greater security? I’m not sure I’m happy about that,” said Sirius, continuing his slow pace but this time to help his younger brother rather than to snoop.

“All the vaults are well protected, I can assure you, the ones lower down are merely older,” Blordak answered, walking up to a large door marked 711 which Regulus recognised as the door to the Black vault.

Blordak then swiped his had quickly over a section of rock that jutted out next to the door, before the door itself seemed to break down into dust before them.

The vault itself consisted of a cavernous room filled with meticulously organised shelves, each one seemed to pertain to either a type of item or an era of the Noble and Most Ancient House of Black. Regulus looked around, unable to fight back the feeling of awe and pride that bubbled up inside him. This was the heritage he was to have.

Sirius, tried to keep his face impassive but Regulus could see the way his eyes had widened as he stepped over the threshold. He glanced at the large chests in the centre of the room, marked out with types of coins.

Regulus walked carefully into the room to join his brother. Though he’d been in the vault twice before he’d been told strictly not to touch anything, this time he let his hand run over everything in reach, feeling the cool metals, hard jewels and sharp edges that filled the shelves.

He spotted a bookcase right at the back of the vault and made his way over, ignoring Sirius’ eye roll as he did.

“Trust you,” teased Sirius, “surrounded by all this and you head straight to the books. Remind me what house you were in again?”

Regulus ignored him as he glanced over the titles. They had a substantial library at Grimmauld Place, with room for more books, there must have been a reason for some to be kept in the vault. Reading the titles, he soon comprehended what that reason was. Regulus had never seen such a collection of books on Dark Magic. He didn’t recognise many of the titles but the ones he did he’d only seen referred to in the blackest of terms. Regulus felt his mood drop and a rock take shape inside his chest. The gold and precious items were not his heritage; these books were.

With more robotic movements Regulus began to take them off the shelf and scan through their contents. He’d rather have turned away, ignored their presence and gone to join Sirius who was searching through a box of family rings. But that would have been too much like the old Regulus, prepared to ignore the darkness for a shot at being part of something great.

Blordak stood back from the vault and gave the two brothers all the time he needed, remaining a silent guardian of the vault even with its owners present. Regulus noticed Sirius use the space to try out various spells, most of them seemed unfruitful, though he did briefly turn into his animagus form.

Regulus carefully scanned the books in front of him, selecting which ones he would leave with. Partially to ensure they had the information they needed, and partially to make sure anyone else wouldn’t have access to it.

“Right, I think we’d better get going, unless you need more time, Reg?” Regulus looked up to see Sirius looking at him expectantly, he might have said there was a look of concern there but that seemed to be Sirius’ default expression when looking at him these days.

Regulus nodded, grabbing the books he’d set aside and walking out of the vault to join his brother and Blordak.

“Don’t suppose you’d give us a tour?” Sirius asked with a grin.

The goblin did not even dignify his question with a response, instead silently leading them back to the cart as the vault door reformed behind them.

The ride back was silent as Sirius seemed to have realised his naked plugs for information weren’t likely to get him anywhere. The older man was now slowly sorting through a strange selection of objects, mostly rings, he’d taken out of the vault, along with some galleons.

The three left the bank with little fanfare and walked off down Diagon Alley, ignoring the stares they were receiving as they walked. Marlene tossed off the cloak not long after they were out of eyesight of Gringotts.

“It’s bloody stuffy under here,” she grumbled, running a hand through her messy hair.

“Anything last?” asked Regulus smiling at his friend.

“Fucking nothing,” she grouched.

The three of the them arrived at the apparition point and Sirius wasted no time in grabbing Marlene and Regulus, glancing round for anyone that might commit as great a crime as to throw a snowball at his little brother.

* * *

The three appeared in the living room, once more to the relieved smiles of Lily and James.

“Find out anything interesting?” asked James.

“Found out that these two are fucking loaded,” said Marlene, slumping into the sofa.

“We also found out that nothing but the cloak can get past the wards in terms of magic. Even the portkey lost its magical properties,” said Sirius.

“Not even the Polyjuice potion?” asked Lily

“Not even that,” Marlene sighed, “had to work real hard to stay quiet when I felt myself shrinking.”

“You should have thought about that before being short,” snarked James, but his face took on a troubled expression. “Could you even transform?” he asked Sirius.

“I could transform in the vault but I don’t know what it will be like in Bella’s vault – I didn’t try it on the cart, I’m still unregistered.”

“I don’t exactly thing a hulking black dog is any less conspicuous than a person, if I’m being honest,” said Regulus.

“If we want to go the animagus route, I think we’ll need Peter,” Sirius agreed.

“I don’t see how it would be of any value, I doubt he could get past the waterfall and it’s not like they’d have any reason to take a rat down to the vaults,” said James.

“I’m starting to see why nobody’s ever managed a break in,” sighed Marlene. “Is there anyway to get someone to move the horcrux? It’s not like we couldn’t find it again and maybe it’ll be put somewhere easier.”

“You mean like in a cave surrounded by inferi?” snarked Regulus, “not sure I’d describe it as easy.”

“I didn’t mean it like that,” Marlene sighed.

“I know, I’m sorry,” Regulus squeezed her shoulder, “I’m just on edge.”

“Marlene might have a point though,” said Lily, “maybe someone could tip off the Voldemort, say we know where it is, see if it gets moved.”

“He won’t believe any tip off from us,” said Sirius.

“He might, if it came from Regulus, just say you had a change of heart,” said James.

“That won’t work,” said Sirius.

“We don’t know, it might work,” said James.

“Look if I had a week, I couldn’t list all the things wrong with that idea. Starting with the fact that, the last time the Dar- Voldemort gave me the option of switching back I refused him and that was after over a week of torture, staring at the end of his wand. You lot sure can be irritating, especially Sirius, but I doubt anyone would believe that a month in your company would have more of a dramatic effect as to my loyalties. And besides, it’s not a case of nothing to lose, we’ve got enough problems with goblin guards, let’s not add Death Eaters to the list of shit we’re gonna have to deal with.”

James nodded, backing down from the argument.

“Well I do have some good news,” Regulus sighed, not wanting to fail his new friends. He put the books he’d taken from the bank on the table, “turns out the Black family is full of really Dark magic.”

“That’s the opposite of both good and news,” said Sirius, frowning at his brother.

“Usually, yes, but in this case, seems that it might finally have been useful. This book,” Regulus pointed to the top of the pile, “contains everything you could possibly need to know about horcruxes, including how to destroy them.”

Marlene grinned, grabbing the book and flipping through it, “brilliant, Reg.”

“Sweet,” said James, “what do we need?”

“Seems like it boils down to extreme destruction. The two methods the book lists are basilisk venom and fiendfyre. I don’t suppose any of you know someone with an extremely exotic pet?” said Regulus.

“Can’t say I saw a basilisk on the list of Hogwarts approved pets,” said Lily, “don’t suppose anyone can control fiendfyre.”

“I’d be happy to give it a go,” said Sirius, smirking.

“Ok, before we destroy the house,” said Marlene, “first of all, let’s maybe not go straight to trying out an almost impossible to control spell. Secondly, we can’t get rid of the locket until we have the cup. We need the tracking rune.”

“Marlene’s right, I know I brought this to your attention, but to be honest, I’m not sure we’ll be able to use the information yet,” said Regulus.

“Well what good is it then?” said Sirius, frustrated at their lack of progress.

Regulus shrugged and looked away.

“It’s useful,” said Lily, “more than useful, it’s crucial. It means we’re not going to be just sitting on Voldemort’s soul for him like over grown mother hens waiting for him to need them.”

“Which brings us back to needing a way to gather pieces of soul to sit on,” murmured James.

“Which brings us back to needing to break into a bank which washes away every piece of magic we might use,” said Lily.

“Could just use fiendfyre, destroy the whole bank. Capitalism sucks anyway,” said Sirius.

Marlene laughed, “I mean, would be pretty dramatic.”

James soon joined in, “could you imagine the look on all those pureblood supremacist faces when they realise all their gold’s been blown up while they were too busy kissing up to some snake faced asshole.”

Lily pinched the bridge of her nose, “I can’t believe I have to say this: we’re not destroying the whole of Gringotts Wizarding Bank.”

Regulus tried to hold back a laugh, “yeah, you’re only supposed to blow the bloody doors off.”

Sirius frowned in confusion, as Lily’s expression went from exasperated to laughing. “Not quite sure that would work in this instance, Charlie,” Lily snickered.

“Muggle movie,” James said by way of explanation to Sirius’ confusion. “Regulus and Lily have been having late night movie nights.”

“And you didn’t invite me?” said Sirius, placing his hand delicately against his heart, “Evans I would expect, but my own brother. This is the worst kind of betrayal Reggie, I hope you know that.”

“Oh man I love that film,” Marlene smiled, “if we end up carrying out this break in, we’re definitely getting some cool getaway cars.”

“I think there’s a Mini dealership a couple of streets from here,” said James.

“Wait, wait,” said Sirius, “Evans and Marlene, I understand, but I refuse to be less up to date on muggle culture than James and Reggie. Especially Reggie.”

Lily rolled her eyes, “it’s just a movie. Someone needed to introduce Regulus to the wonders of cinema, and you were all dropping the ball. It wasn’t like we were keeping you out of some great planning meeting.”

“A movie about a bank robbery by the sounds of it?” Sirius held his hands up, “That’s research!”

“It’s not research,” said Regulus, “it’s hardly like we’re gonna end up robbing Gringotts with muggle explosives and a bunch of small muggle cars.”

“Why not?” said Sirius, his eyes laughing.

“Because that would be ridiculous,” said Regulus.

“And impossible to carry out,” added Lily.

“And kind of genius,” said James. This caused everyone to turn to look with derision at the bespectacled man. “What?” he shrugged, “we’ve all acknowledged that magic is not our friend here, why not be a little ridiculous?”

They all paused and stared at each other before all five of them burst into spontaneous giggles.

“Could you imagine,” laughed Marlene.

“Honestly, the thought of a bunch of Minis driving up Diagon Alley,” added Lily.

“Mother would be turning in her grave,” sniggered Sirius.

The laughter slowly dissipated from the room, leaving the five friends smiling at each other, enjoying the break from the gloomy discussion the day had brought. Lily grinned as she went to put the kettle on for tea, the remaining four all slumping into chairs as the atmosphere of the room lifted into something manageable.

“I mean, James is kind of right though,” said Marlene, “nobody would see it coming.”

“Ha, did you hear that Lily? Marlene said I’m right about something,” James called before turning to Marlene, “no take-backs.”

“What are you, twelve?” snarked Regulus, but there was no heat to his words.

“Look, I’m not just saying this because the idea of a muggle heist is something I would give my actual complete and unbroken soul for, but I also think James is right,” said Sirius.

Regulus rolled his eyes, “yes, but surely it would be impossible, there are way more barriers and protections on that bank than the Italian one.”

“And all of them protect against magic,” said Marlene, “like I said, nobody would expect someone to break in the muggle way.”

“Because nobody would be stupid enough to try,” said Regulus, exasperated.

“Yeah, and we’ve all read books about how well that went for them,” said Sirius.

“I can’t believe you’re all considering this,” said Regulus, and then, much quieter, “and I can’t believe I’m tempted to go along with it.”

“Reggie’s on board!” said Sirius, jumping off the sofa to pull his brother to his side.

“That’s so not what I said,” grouched Regulus.

“But it’s what you meant,” Sirius sung in his ear, making Regulus try to pull away despite being held fast.

“You know, muggle criminal mastermind is not one of the job pamphlet things they give you at Hogwarts, that’s a real oversight,” laughed Marlene.

“I wonder which NEWTs you’d need to take?” mused James.

Lily came back into the room, cradling a cup of tea, “please tell me,” she said pursing her lips and letting out a sigh, “that you have not decided on this ludicrous plan in my absence?”

Sirius grinned back unashamedly, still crushing Regulus to his side, “don’t wanna lie to you, Evans, so I respectfully decline to comment.”

Lily took a slow sip of tea, and then carefully placed her mug down on one of the coasters. “Ok,” she said, levelling them all with a hard stare, “where do we begin?”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ah! So some of you might have guessed how things were gonna go down by my very unsubtle hints (I mean most unsubtle of all being the title!) but yeah there's gonna be a bank heist - muggle style!
> 
> If you haven't seen The Italian Job, it's basically a classic bank heist movie that involves a group of aggressively British criminals nicking a load of gold from an Italian high security bank. Honestly I haven't seen it in years, but it was my brother's favourite film as a kid and he was bigger than me so obviously we watched it a lot. I promise you won't need to see the film to read the fic, I think most of the references I was gonna make are in this chapter.
> 
> Anyway, enough rambling, hope you enjoyed, let me know what you think. I'm currently toying with the idea of adding another Marauder in the next chapter (one we actually like, not the other one), so let me know thoughts.


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